Moniack Mhor - Kiltarlity, up by Inverness, up high - watched over by Ben Wyvis: Scotland's Creative Writing Centre, this is where I have been for the past week. I am so grateful for the Moniack Mhor giving me a grant and several other individuals, who helped me both financially and practically to attend the novel writing week there.

We had workshops in the mornings, tuturials in the afternoons, shared a cooking rota (with recipies, ingredients and hand holding from Mark), heard all the tutors read from the work, as well as all my fellow students. There was space to walk. An urn of hot water in the kitchen, plenty food, coffee and wine.

5am Rainbow from Bedroom No: 6 at Moniack Mhor - Looking out at the Straw Bale Studio (hobbit house) where we read our work to the group on the last evening and where we heard the guest speaker talk.

Thanks to the advice and encouragement of our tutors and the space provided at Moniack Mhor, I have returned home with 2 pieces of writing, which I hope to develop on in the coming year. Also, if not a community, with my fellow students I hope I have made some friends with these travellers on the creative path.

Rememberance - I have also remembered things that work for me - walking, morning pages, space, quiet, time to mull and scribble and look.

Here are just a few of the photos I took during my time at Moniack - click on the individual images to see in more detail and read captions:

I feel very previleged to have had this experience and shall allow it to settle within me and inspire me in the coming months and years. A huge thanks to all involved.

HAT STATUS: Furry hunter hat and jaunty corderoy hat, both travelled with me. The air was fabulous, clean and fresh - still snow on the far hills. I would advise a hat if one wants to walk at Moniack Mhor.

WRITING STATUS: Why is my blog post about my writing retreat full of photos, you might ask - and I would say - this is where I have been and where strands of stories began to develop for me, and those are far too new to share as yet.

Counting down - 13 days, until The Flashdogs Anthology is published (and with it 4 of my short stories) - more on this soon.

WILDCARD STATUS: One week of not accessing the internet (self imposed) has had me taking ill with logging in again. I am told Mercury is in retrograde and will be for 2 more weeks and this is jamming the airwaves, but also suspect time and freedom of this tyrannical beast is good for me.